The holiday season brings with it Christmas joy, New Year's celebrations, and for Destiny 2 players, more grinding in the form of The Dawning. This year's edition of the wintertime seasonal event brings more festive gear into the game for guardians to chase after, among it all being the game's first stasis sword. The new sword brings with it a new perk befitting the weapon which will turn enemies' recent melee bonus back on them.
Bungie first introduced The Dawning in 2016 as the series' new holiday-themed seasonal event to give the often-bleak universe some festive cheer. Previous editions of the event gave players the chance to earn weapons including the Avalanche machine gun, Cold Front SMG, and the Zephyr sword. While the first two weapons have since been reissued following Beyond Light sunsetting a large swath of the weapon pool, the Zephyr remained sunset following 2020's edition of The Dawning.
That changed with 2021's edition of Destiny 2's winter event, as the Zephyr is back and powered by stasis this time around. The new element power brings with it a new perk capable of rolling on the sword to give it a chilling sting other swords can't deliver. The perk Cold Steel means successful powered hits will slow any enemies hit by it.
While new for players, the melee effect has been in the game since Season of the Lost began, as enemy melee attacks caused a slowing effect on players. This has been the cause of many headaches for players, who will be hit by something as small as a Hive Thrall and subsequently be swarmed. If a player can roll a Zephyr with Cold Steel, they can now turn this effect back on enemies without having to equip their stasis subclass for such abilities.
The catch is the perk, like most non-exotic weapons, is at the mercy of Destiny 2's RNG system. It can either be a player's friend or greatest bane in the game depending on the day, the particular weapon or specific perk and stat roll they may be chasing.
In the case of the Zephyr, Cold Steel is one of six perks listed on Light.GG as capable of rolling in the weapon's second perk slot. Some players will argue the perk selection, which includes Harmony or Assassin's Blade, are all beneficial given the damage boosts most provide. However, given the event's limited time and no guarantee another weapon will roll with the perk, a Zephyr with Cold Steel is the most desirable option.
Destiny 2 is currently available for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: Light.GG